astro garden - part 4: the planting

The planting stage of the garden begins.  In this case it was delayed a little because of torrential rain.  As you can see from the photogrpahs not all planting takes place in dry weather!





When plants arrive on site they are placed into the appropriate areas around the garden.  Already the weeping contoneaster grouped in five start to bring height and interest to the garden and put the new trellis in perspective.




The heads of the 3m tall standard photinia trees are just out of shot but are finally in situ but only after a lot of heavy lifting. Tall slender Italian cypresses punctuate the border to the rear of the patio. These needle like conifers hold a steady shape and do not get bushy.





Apart from the very big specimen trees, nothing is planted into the ground at this stage. This allows us to move plants within their beds to they have their optimum position within the overall planting scheme.





Finally, with all plants placed in  their final position and despite the downpours, we are ready to get planting.  The space in front of the granite patio is left ready for the synthetic turf.  We waited until all the planting and mulching had been done before we laid it as it would have got a bit muddy (to say the least)





Plants ready for planting in front of relocated shed.  The upright bay will eventually form an evergreen screen with the weeping contoneaster and block the shed completely. Bags of bark await spreading (and a dry day).





All the plants are planted in this area apart from two additional specimen photinia trees.  The clients like the other three so much they decided to add another two!





Finally, all the planting is done and the beds have been mulched.  Bark mulch makes beds look a lot cleaner and sharper while there is space between new plants.  It also helps keep weeds down thereby reducing maintenance. It protects roots in winter and retains water in summer.